The Way You Remember Me

To say that Naminé was nervous was an understatement. Her heart pounded, her lip trembled and her stomach fluttered when she finally came to a stop in front of the Old Mansion. The place she might be calling home from now on.

"What are you afraid of?"

Ansem the Wise, who was accompanying her on her way, looked at her inquiringly, but Naminé just shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know," she murmured, but she knew very well. Rejection . What if they had changed their minds about letting her live with them? 

“They are very happy to welcome you to their home,” Ansem the Wise tried reassuring her, and despite her mostly negative experience with the man, she felt touched by the recent kindness he’d shown her. "Any friend of Sora's can't help but be open to other hearts. And I know Roxas especially is very eager to see you again."

Color rose into Naminé's cheeks, and she tried to hide it behind her braid that rested over her right shoulder, very well aware of the amused smile that had appeared on Ansem the Wise’s face.

"I hope so."

"Well then, are you ready?"

No . "Yes," she said anyway, and Ansem the Wise stepped forward to ring the doorbell. 

Even though it took merely a minute or two for the doors to open, to Naminé, it felt like hours. She clutched the small potted plant in her arms harder against her chest as she dug her white sneakers into the dirt path.

Maybe nobody was home? Maybe they decided they didn't want her to live with them after all? Maybe—?

And then, finally , the double doors opened and revealed the blond-haired boy Naminé had been longing to meet again the most. 

"Axel, if you forgot your keys again , I swear I'll—" he started grumbling, but as his gaze wandered from her light denim overall skirt and white shirt up to her face, recognition kicked in, and his expression turned from surprised to flustered.

“Naminé?”

“Hello, Roxas,” Naminé replied and allowed herself a small, relieved smile. Time seemed to stand still as the two of them gazed into each other’s eyes.

“Hello, Roxas,” Ansem the Wise greeted Roxas as well, who Roxas acknowledged with a nod before turning back to Naminé.

“I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow.”

“Is it a bad time?”

“No no no, not at all!" Roxas frantically waved his arms around. "It’s just that I would’ve come to the train station to meet you.” He took a step back and looked up at Ansem the Wise. “Please, come in.”

Ansem the Wise shook his head and waved Roxas off. “I simply came to see Naminé off. I hope you’ll all get along well together. Good luck.” He turned to leave, but Naminé stopped him.

“Lord Ansem? Thank you. For everything.”

"You're very welcome, my dear. Take care. You’re always welcome to visit Radiant Garden. All of you are."

He walked off in the direction of the woods, arms behind his back, and Naminé followed Roxas inside, past the heavy doors into the big foyer. There, Roxas seemed a little lost for a second, and Naminé took the opportunity to examine him more closely. Even though Roxas ran a hand through his hair and smoothed down a couple of strands, they sprang back up into their signature windswept look immediately. He looked healthy, too—the dark bags underneath his eyes that Naminé saw in his memories before were completely gone, and it seemed like he’d grown a few inches since the last time she’d seen him.

All in all, he looked happy with that slight grin on his lips as his ocean blue eyes met hers.

Naminé's cheeks grew warm.

"Sorry about that!" he told her sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "I was a little taken off guard for a second there. Can I take your backpack?"

"It's okay, it's not heavy at all. But you can take this." Naminé handed him the plant and added, "This is a gift, for all of you, for letting me move in. It’s a Calathea, and it symbolizes a new beginning.”

"That's perfect for us,” Roxas replied with a smile. “Isa and Axel aren't really into that stuff, but Xion will love it. Thank you."

“Speaking of which, are they home?”

"Isa and Axel are at work. I know, I know! Who would’ve thought Axel had it in him, right? And Olette invited Xion over so she can share some of her old clothes with her for the time being.” Naminé saw him bite his lip. “How’s your situation?”

“I’m good. I’m smaller than Kairi, so she offered me a ton of clothes she can’t fit into anymore.”

“Is she okay?”

“She tries to be.”

Roxas nodded, and Naminé was very glad that he didn’t push the topic further.

"Let me give you a little tour of the house,” he said. “As you can see, we turned the foyer into our living room. The couches are secondhand, but we cleaned them all up and they're really comfortable." He wriggled his way through the couches and coffee table to a small, inconspicuous side table near the garden doors. 

"And look, we just found the perfect spot for our little Calendula!"

"Calathea!" With her hand covering her lower face, Naminé started to giggle at Roxas’s disarming grin as he just shrugged at her correction before leading her through the rest of the house. At the end, there were only two rooms left for Naminé to see.

"And this is my room." He reached past her to turn the doorknob and push the door open. “Sorry, it’s still a little messy, I just finished painting the walls.” 

Curious, Naminé stepped closer to the door and looked inside. Indeed, a few buckets and cans of paint were still standing next to one of the surprisingly dark blue walls, but the color worked well with the black furniture and light sheets and curtains. 

“It’s cozy,” she reassured him when her eyes caught an empty stand next to a beanbag in the corner of the room. “You have a guitar?”

“Not yet,” Roxas explained as he rubbed his neck. “I found this stand in the library, I assume it was a violin stand beforehand. Either way, I want to buy one, one day. I hate admitting it, but I was always kind of jealous of Demyx's sitar.”

“That sounds nice. Having a dream to look forward to.”

Naminé smiled sadly. She didn’t know what she wanted to do, what she looked forward to. As of now, she seemed to live aimlessly, just watching the days go by.

"You can find one, too. You just need some time and a place to think about it. Which reminds me—" he pulled his door closed and turned around, to the door opposite his.

"This is your room."

"It’s the White Room." 

Not waiting for a reply, Naminé walked past him and opened the door herself. As always, the evening sun's rays filtered in through the delicate white curtain as it danced in the wind. 

“Is this okay?” Roxas asked. “I know you might not have the best memories of this room.”

“This room wasn't so bad, you know?” Naminé replied, and after dropping off her backpack next to the bed, she walked across the room to the wide windows to peer through the curtains. “I’ve always liked the view from here. I loved drawing the animals in the woods in my free time.”

She turned back to Roxas. “And it was in this room that we finally got to talk for a few minutes. Even if it was mostly through a hologram of me.”

“This is where you told me the truth,” Roxas remembered now and Naminé nodded. “You promised we would meet again.”

“And we did.”

Naminé smiled and looked around the room before sighing.

“What’s the matter?”

“The room wasn’t so bad, but it always felt cold with its white walls and white furniture. With my pale skin, blond hair and white skirt, I blended right in. Like I didn’t exist. And I didn’t.”

“But now you do,” Roxas emphasized, “and with a little bit of color, the room will soon feel much more inviting. Gimme a sec!”

Naminé cocked her head, but before she could ask Roxas what he meant, he had sprinted out of the room and returned just as quickly, this time with some paint, a paint roller and paintbrush in hand.

“How about a splash of color on your walls?” he asked her as he opened the bucket of white paint, then a can of dark blue paint. “We could paint one or two of your walls in any shade of blue you want. We don’t have any other colors at home currently—”

“Blue is fine! I really like pastel blue.”

Roxas grinned and handed Naminé the can. Together, they mixed the right shade and after taping off the floor and side walls, they started to paint. It didn’t take long for Naminé to hum happily as she was painting and soon, Roxas joined in. They grinned and smiled at each other as they attacked the white of the wall.

“Oh no,” Naminé murmured as she looked down at a small dresser closest to the wall they were painting. She tried to remove the paint with her finger, but it only spread over the white surface.

“What’s wrong?”

“The paint splashed on the dresser.”

Roxas climbed down the ladder he had propped up against the wall and looked at the dresser, then at Naminé, then back at the dresser before taking his wet paint roll and rolling it over the top of the dresser.

“Roxas!”

“You wanted more color in your life, so why don't we paint more than just your wall?” 

"But—"

Before Naminé was able to react, Roxas scooped up some paint from the paint roller and bopped her nose. She stared at him speechless, trying to process what had just happened, and it seemed like Roxas had also just now realized what he’d done.

"Naminé? I—I'm sorry, I didn't think—"

Neither did Naminé, apparently, because this time, she was the one who dipped her finger into the paint bucket and quickly drew a line across Roxas's cheek, leaving him dumbfounded and her giggling.

"Oh, it is on ," he teased and chased her around as she tried to escape his wet paintbrush with a squeak.

At the end of the day, Naminé and Roxas flopped down on her bed, covered in splashes of blue, muscles sore from laughing and giggling, but proud of having finished painting the wall, her dresser and a few side stools for plants.

“I’ll be right back,” Roxas promised after a few minutes and dashed outside while Naminé sat up and looked over her room. She couldn’t help but smile—it really felt a lot more homey with this little change, and she got to make a new memory with Roxas while doing this.

Naminé pressed her hands against her warm cheeks when Roxas returned.

"I lied when I said we've been living off of pizza. We've also been living off of these ."

“Sea-salt ice cream?” Naminé asked him with a grin as she took the bar he offered her and inspected it closely.

“Yep! Our fridge is filled to the brim with these. House rule.”

Naminé giggled and under the watchful eyes of Roxas, she took her first bite of the ice cream bar.

“So?” He bounced up and down on the bed like an excited puppy, and it was at that moment that Naminé decided to play a little prank on him. “What do you think?”

“It’s salty. And sweet.”

“Yes!”

“It’s disgusting.”

Color drained from Roxas’s face and he gasped, completely in shock. “What?”

“I’m just kidding! It’s delicious, thank you.”

Roxas puffed his cheeks out and nudged her playfully. “You gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry!” Naminé giggled and soon, Roxas chimed in until enough of his ice cream bar melted that it dripped on his pants, which only resulted in the both of them giggling harder.

In the end, they calmed down, and with her heart pounding out of her chest, Naminé leaned her head against Roxas’s shoulder. He stiffened under her touch and she considered sitting up straight again, but then she felt him rest his head on her own and she suddenly felt warm all over.

“Roxas? Thank you for making me feel at home.”